I’ve made the point before, and I’m not going to elaborate too much on it again, but the decision to bring Agent Coulson (played by Clark Gregg) back from the dead (sort of) following "The Avengers" takes a bit of the sting out of Joss Whedon‘s movie. It was a motivating factor for the team to work together, but the fake out and the character’s re-emergence on "Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D." adds a hollow note to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Then again, nobody really dies in these movies, so maybe I shouldn’t be too shocked (see Loki in "Thor: The Dark World"). But if you think just because Agent Coulson is still kicking around that he might have a shot at going back to the big screen, you’d be mistaken.
While Whedon is totally fine with Coulson existing in the TV world, those feelings don’t carry over to the MCU, or his upcoming "Avengers: Age Of Ultron."
"As far as I’m concerned, in this movie, Coulson’s dead," he told Buzzfeed. "If you come back in the sequel and say Coulson’s alive, it’s like putting fucking John Gielgud in the sequel to ‘Arthur.’ It mattered that he’s gone. It’s a different world now. And you have to run with that." It would appear that Whedon has very strong feelings about that Dudley Moore comedy franchise from the ’80s too.
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In my opinion, if you’re going to bring Coulson back from the dead, might as well embrace it whole hog. Moreover, while Whedon may feel this way now, he’s leaving Marvel, and maybe Kevin Feige will have different thoughts on the future of Agent Coulson. After all, "Avengers: Infinity War" will be two movies long, so maybe they can squeeze him in.
Thoughts? You know where to leave ’em.